How do i do a Stop Motion like thing on my Sony Handy Cam?

Question

I have a Sony Handy Cam DCR-SR45E and i want to do a Stop Motion like thing, For example like in this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6q2Bu-5E-sQ

can i do it on my camera and how can i get to that mode?

Answer 1

Favorite Answer

The video you posted is called time lapse photography/video, where a picture is taken at timed intervals. When run together into a video, these images show a rapid passing of time. There are time lapse programs that can be used in tandem with a camera to automatically take a picture at any set interval.

If your handy cam has a firewire or usb port, you can connect your camera to your computer and it can be recognized by stop motion software which can give you a live video feed and capture individual pictures, as well as export the images into a video file.

To actually frame-grab and compile the movie, I'd suggest using Monkeyjam if you're on a PC. It's free.

http://www.giantscreamingrobotmonkeys.com/monkeyja...

AnimatorDV: Simple+ became freeware.

http://www.animatordv.com/download7

If you're on a Mac, you could try Framethief or FramebyFrame.

http://www.framethief.com/

http://web.mac.com/philipp.brendel/Software/FrameB...

For any specific questions, you should check out www.stopmotionanimation.com

It's a message board filled with stop motion animators helping eachother out. They even have a handbook section that has basic answers and info on a variety of stop motion topics (armatures, sets, cameras, etc)

http://www.stopmotionanimation.com/handbook/

AnimateClay.com also has some good beginner tutorials:

http://www.animateclay.com/index.php?name=Sections...

Answer 2

Stop motion generally isn't a camera mode. It is a process of taking hundreds of still photographs, with a slight movement of the subject between frames, then you put all of the frames together in order in a slide show or animation - this is stop motion.